Pennsylvania Adds Four New Medical Cannabis Conditions, Including Opioid Use Disorder

Pennsylvania has officially added four new medical conditions to the state’s medical cannabis program, including becoming the first state in the nation to allow medical marijuana for opioid-use disorder.

“We have expanded the number of serious medical conditions to include neurodegenerative diseases, terminal illness, dyskinetic and spastic movement disorders and opioid-use disorder,” said Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine in a recent press release. Pennsylvania is the first state to add opioid-use disorder separately as an approved condition for medical marijuana patients.

“By adding opioid-use disorder as an approved medical condition under the program, we not only give physicians another tool for treatment of this devastating disease, but we allow for research to be conducted on medical marijuana’s effectiveness in treatment,” Dr. Levine said. “Only approved conditions under the law can be studied through our research program.”

Other changes include:

Revising the serious chronic pain definition to no longer require patients to use opioids before using medical marijuana;

Permitting medical marijuana to be dispensed in dry leaf or plant form, for administration by vaporization;

Allowing physicians to opt out of the public-facing practitioner list while remaining in the Patient and Caregiver Registry; and

Requiring patients to pay the $50 medical marijuana identification card fee once in a 12-month period.

Below is the full list of Pennsylvania’s qualifying medical cannabis conditions:

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Autism.

Cancer.

Crohn’s Disease.

Damage to the nervous tissue of the spinal cord with objective neurological indication of intractable spasticity.

Anthony Martinelli

Anthony is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of TheJointBlog. He has worked closely with numerous elected officials who support cannabis law reform, including as the former Campaign Manager for King County (WA) Councilmember Dave Upthegrove. He has been published by multiple media outlets, and is a former contributor for Village Voice Media.